2011 GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition Announces Finalist

ATLANTA (April 22, 2011) – The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) and Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) are today announcing the finalists for the GRA/TAG Business Launch 2011. The judges for the semifinal round have selected four companies to compete for $50,000 in cash and over $400,000 in services. “Every year we are astounded by the number of innovative and game changing businesses that enter our GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition,” said Tino Mantella, president and CEO of TAG. “This year is no exception and our judges have faced very difficult decisions during each round of the competition. We applaud our four finalist companies and look forward to their presentations at the final competition.”

The finalists for this year’s competition are:

• AuditMyBooks, specializing in accounting software for small and medium size businesses to detect errors and possible fraud.

• Soket, a company that is focuses on online promotions that offer local organizations a place to manage, monitor and make sense of promotional efforts on the web.

• Pindrop Security (formerly Telineage), providing a reliable and robust Caller-ID alternative to secure phone transactions.

• ViscidTech, which markets a revolutionary pressure sensitive touch technology that solves key pains for manufacturers in the $4 billion market for touch technology.

GRA/TAG Business Launch supports Georgia’s burgeoning start-up community by helping local entrepreneurs launch their businesses. Since it was founded in 2006, it has become one of largest competitions of its kind in the United States, providing $450,000 in cash and over $1,000,000 in donated services, and has helped more than 130 young entrepreneurs connect with successful entrepreneurs and investors in mentoring relationships. "The competition continues to foster growth of Georgia start-up companies, and we are excited about the companies who made it to the finals. These companies will help grow Georgia jobs and further our local economy,” said Sid Elliott, Business Development Director for the Georgia Research Alliance.

The Finalists will be judged by an all-star panel of venture capitalists and investors from across the nation, including Bob Bozeman, General Partner, Angel Investors, LP - San Francisco, CA; John Glushik, Investment Team, Intersouth Partners - Durham, NC; Wayne Hunter, Managing Partner, Harbert Management Corporation - Birmingham, AL; Allen Moseley, Partner, Noro-Moseley Partners - Atlanta, GA; Tripp Rackley, Senior Vice President, Qualcomm - Atlanta, GA; Ron Verni, former CEO of Sage Software.

The Business Launch Competition culminates on May 24, 2011, with a finals competition at the IBM Hillside Facility on Northside Parkway, from 7:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Attendance is open to the public for a nominal entry fee with lunch provided. For more information visit http://www.tagonline.org/businesslaunch.php.

About The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA)

The Georgia Research Alliance is a private, non-profit organization that brings together the state’s academic, industry and government leaders to grow Georgia’s economy through scientific discovery. Key programs are recruitment of top scientific talent (GRA Eminent Scholars), development of centers of research excellence, and commercialization of university R&D (GRA VentureLab). GRA has helped to generate more than 200 new technology companies from university research.

About The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

TAG is a leading technology industry association dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of the state's technology industry. TAG provides leadership in driving initiatives in the areas of policy, capital, education and giving, and also brings the technology community together through events, initiative programs and networking opportunities. TAG serves as an umbrella organization for30 special interest groups, or societies, including Women in Technology (WIT). Additionally, TAG’s charitable arm, the TAG Education Collaborative, is focused on helping science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education initiatives thrive. For more information visit the TAG website at www.tagonline.org or TAG’s community website at http://tagthink.com.

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All about the Excalibur Awards

Excalibur Awards has been owned and operated locally and is currently serving customers throughout the Piedmont Triad in North Carolina. This organization has been present since the year 1994 which started out in Clemmons, NC. By the year 2010, they were able to set up a second showroom in the Greensboro, High Point and Jamestown area in order to better support the needs of the community.

How Excalibur Awards started?

As mentioned earlier, the community was founded last 1994 by Gary Taylor. This organization actually started out as a small one-person business whose main focus is to produce trophies for the entire local sports league and associations. By 2001, Gary opened the very first full-fledged retail store located in Clemmons, NC and by January 2006, the business was moved to the current location (2575 Old Glory Road).
During August of 2006, the business was then sold to the current owner of Excalibur Awards, Al Cheek. He is a native from Winston-Salem who recently moved back with his family from Phoenix, AZ. Al spent his previous 20+ years working for companies like American Express, Cendant, PowerCerv, GMAC Insurance and Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores.

Due to his previous experiences in the corporate arena, Al was able to develop his understanding towards the importance of service, quality, and communication when it comes to customer experience and purchasing decision.
It was in August 2010 when the company opened its second location in Greensboro, NC. This store is currently owned and operated by John Carstens who is a Florida native. John spent his last 30 years in the area working as an executive for American Express.

At the moment, John’s extensive experience when it comes to developing and managing relationships with customers enabled him to become a superb addition to the entire company.

While Excalibur Awards continues to grow, their commitment to services as well as support became the key component in making each and every client project successful.


The Excalibur Awards Satisfaction Pledge to their customers:

The company pledges to provide service that exceeds expectations and the finest quality when it comes to products and materials at a very reasonable price. With this company, your shopping experience will be a pleasant one because of their accuracy and on-time delivery.


The company dedicates itself to the following products:

• Sports, Academic and Civic Awards
• Embroidered as well as Imprinted Apparel
• Signs and Banners that are Full-Color Digitally Printed
• Different Corporate Awards
• Custom Rotary as well as Laser Engraving
• Items that can be used for Employee Recognition
• Promotional Items that has Your Logo
• Different Kinds of Executive Gifts 
• Identification Products such as name and baggage tags and so on

Finalists Announced for TAG Diversity Leadership Award

Atlanta, GA, April, 2011— TAG Diversity is pleased to announce the finalists for the first annual TAG Diversity Leadership Award. The finalists, who’s efforts will be recognized at the April 26th event are: Alyssa Lane of McKesson, Ashley Crepsac of IHG, and Rosalia Thomas of IBM. The finalists are individuals who are leveraging differences within their organization to increase productivity, efficiency, profits, revenues and employee morale.

“Managing diversity well is part of the transition that businesses must make if they are going to remain competitive in the global marketplace” said Greg Parker, Co-Chair of TAG Diversity Board. “I look forward to participating in honoring all the finalists and the efforts they put forth” Rebecca Hoke, Co-chair TAG diversity board added.

The event will be held at Villa Christina beginning at 6PM and ceremonies beginning at 7PM. Three finalists will be honored individually along with the manager who nominated them. The winner will be announced at the event and share their “secret sauce” and the overall impact the initiative had on them and their organization.

Register to attend at https://www.123signup.com/event?id=vxzzf
Great networking, excellent speaker, learn how 3 other superstars drove company growth by leveraging differences within their companies.

About

The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) is an engine for economic development for the State of Georgia by providing 9,000 members within the technology driven community with an opportunity for personal and professional growth through our 27 societies.
The TAG Diversity Society provides a collaborative environment for professionals in the technology community for education and increased awareness on the benefit to business goals when differences are leveraged within their organizations. Our focus is on helping professionals manage creative, intellectual, cultural, ethnic, generational, gender & lifestyle diversity to achieve positive outcomes.

CONTACT:

Craig Cuddeback
TAG Diversity Society Board
404-963-2345
cacuddeback@comcast.net

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Katharina Probst of Google to Speak at TAG Diversity Awards Dinner April 26th

Atlanta, GA, April 19, 2010— Katharina Probst of Google will give the keynote address at the first annual TAG Diversity Leadership Award event on Tuesday, April 26th at Villa Christina. Dr. Probst, a Software Engineer will speak about diversity at Google, how Google champions diversity across the organization, and about her own personal experiences in a technical field with respect to diversity.

Katharina Probst will set the stage for the presentation of our 3 finalists and winner of the TAG Diversity Leadership Award. The award will be presented to a individual who proved to be a superstar leveraging differnces within their organization to increase productivity, efficiency, profits, revenues and employee morale.

“Managing diversity well is part of the transition that businesses must make if they are going to remain competitive in the global marketplace” said Greg Parker, Co-Chair of TAG Diversity. “I look forward to participating in honoring all the finalists and the efforts they put forth” Rebecca Hoke, Co-chair TAG diversity added.

“We are very excited to have Katharina speak at our TAG Diversity Awards. Google is a new Premier member of TAG and is known for their exceptional diversity programming within their organization,” said Tino Mantella, CEO and President of TAG.

The event will be held at Villa Christina beginning at 6PM and ceremonies beginning at 7PM. Three finalists will be honored individually along with the manager who nominated them. The winner will be announced at the event and share their “secret sauce” and the overall impact the initiative had on them and their organization.

Register to attend at https://www.123signup.com/event?id=vxzzf
Great networking, excellent speaker, learn how 3 other superstars drove company growth by leveraging differences within their companies.

About

The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) is an engine for economic development for the State of Georgia by providing 9,000 members within the technology driven community with an opportunity for personal and professional growth through our 27 societies.
The TAG Diversity Society provides a collaborative environment for professionals in the technology community for education and increased awareness on the benefit to business goals when differences are leveraged within their organizations. Our focus is on helping professionals manage creative, intellectual, cultural, ethnic, generational, gender & lifestyle diversity to achieve positive outcomes.

CONTACT:

Craig Cuddeback
TAG Diversity Society Board
404-963-2345
cacuddeback@comcast.net

Press Release Services By Vayu Media

Diversity Superstars to Be Honored at TAG Diversity Awards Dinner on April 26th

Atlanta, GA APRIL 13, 2011— TAG Diversity, a society of Technology Association of Georgia, announces the first annual TAG Diversity Leadership Award to be presented at a dinner event on Tuesday, April 26th at Villa Christina. The award will be presented to the individual who excels at leveraging differences within their organization to drive increased productivity, efficiency, profits, revenues and employee morale. Employees in organizations that use technology to drive growth as well as technology sector companies are eligible.

“This award was created to recognize the efforts of organizations to mine a broad array of diversity to meet aggressive goals,” said Greg Parker, Co-Chair of the TAG Diversity. Rebecca Hoke, Co-chair, added that “it is important to recognize individuals who drive initiatives that have significant impact on organizational results and understand how they achieve success.”

Tino Mantella, TAG’s CEO and President, said, “We are proud of the exceptional members of the technology community in Georgia. This award’s program will showcase those individuals who are providing exemplary leadership in driving diversity initiatives within their organizations. We hope calling attention to their achievements will inspire more Georgia companies to follow their example”

Networking will begin at 6:00 PM and the ceremony beginning at 7:00 PM. The three finalists will be honored individually along with the manager who nominated them. The winner will be announced at the ceremony share their “secret sauce” and the overall impact the initiative had on them and their organization.

Register to attend at https://www.123signup.com/event?id=vxzzf. Registration is $20 for TAG members and $30 for non-members.

About

The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) is an engine for economic development for the State of Georgia by providing 12,500 members within the technology driven community with an opportunity for personal and professional growth through our 30 societies.

TAG Diversity provides a collaborative environment for professionals in the technology community for education and increased awareness on the benefit to business goals when differences are leveraged within their organizations. Our focus is on helping professionals manage creative, intellectual, cultural, ethnic, generational, gender & lifestyle diversity to achieve positive outcomes.


CONTACT:                      Becky Biggs

                                       Technology Association of Georgia

                                       Becky@tagonline.org

                                       404-242-8763



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Technology Association of Georgia Launches Contractor Marketplace™

ATLANTA – March 29, 2011 – Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) has partnered with Georgia-based TALENThire to launch a breakthrough, cloud-based contractor marketplace solution. The TAG Contractor Marketplace will meet TAG’s goal of providing service to members who seek more efficient processes to find top talent to fuel their growth. The solution empowers businesses to easily source contract labor and to manage the associated process.

“We currently have a large number of small businesses who are in need of contract labor but don’t have the resources to manage the processes. Our Contractor Marketplace transforms a complex and tedious process into a streamlined one via a simple, cloud-based platform that’s free to use for companies. As part of our mission, TAG is committed to lead the way in using the latest technology solutions to help businesses seamlessly connect with the talent they need,” said Tino Mantella, TAG’s President and CEO. “TAG and its partner Talent Hire are not directly in the contract staffing business. We are supporting the technology solution in response to requests from our small company members for assistance in this area. Our member companies, in the contract staffing business will be the ones to fill the orders” Mantella remarked.

“Knowlagent is a growth company that delivers call center technology to our clients. Too often, we struggled to source quality candidates quickly and cost effectively. Using the on-demand Contractor Marketplace solution, we gained instant access to proven Atlanta-based staffing firms who delivered quality candidates within days, without the hassles of finding and contracting with them ourselves and at no additional charge. It really is a breakthrough solution and business model for sourcing and managing contractors,” said John Wolf, COO, Knowlagent.

The solution manages all aspects of the contract labor process for businesses, including vendor contracts, contractor timesheets and expenses, invoicing, vendor payments and tax forms. The solution is ideal for companies with ad hoc contractor needs.

To utilize the free, web-based solution visit the website at http://www.tagthink.com/contractormarketplace and fill out the Get Started form. From here companies will be provided simple instructions about how to post a contract position. Once the position is posted, our proven Atlanta-based vendors will deliver screened candidates to your desktop. After you select a contractor we handle all of the administrative tasks.

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About The Technology Association of Georgia

Technology Association of Georgia is a leading technology industry association dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of the state’s technology industry. TAG provides leadership in driving initiatives in the areas of policy, capital, education and giving, and also brings the technology community together through events, initiative programs and networking opportunities. TAG serves as an umbrella organization for 30 affinity groups, or societies, including Women in Technology (WIT). Additionally, TAG’s charitable arm, the TAG Education Collaborative, is focused on helping science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education initiatives thrive. For more information visit the TAG website at www.tagonline.org or TAG’s Contractor Marketplace website at www.TAGthink.com/contractormarketplace.

About TALENThire.

Atlanta-based TALENThire’s on-demand platform manages workforce acquisition and labor services spend, including contract labor and statement of work projects, for companies. The solution uniquely empowers companies to cut costs and gain control over their recruitment and services spend management processes and its Marketplace solution enables companies to quickly gain access to its proven vendor network for candidate sourcing. TALENThire's client partners include AOL, Cbeyond, Avanade and BrandsMart.

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2011 GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition announces Semifinalists

ATLANTA (March 23, 2011) – The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) and Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) are today announcing the semifinalists for the GRA/TAG Business Launch 2011. Preliminary Application Judges have selected 11 semifinalists to compete for $50,000 in cash and over $400,000 in services. The semifinalists for this year’s competition are Arrivu, Telineage, Soket, Transaxion, TripLingo, Pave Systems, Merlin Mobility, AuditMyBooks, Nexpense, Soneter, Viscid Technology.

GRA/TAG Business Launch supports Georgia’s burgeoning start-up community by helping local entrepreneurs launch their businesses. Since it was founded in 2006, it has become one of largest competitions of its kind in the United States, providing $450,000 in cash and over $1,000,000 in donated services, and has helped more than 130 young entrepreneurs connect with successful entrepreneurs and investors in mentoring relationships.

Over two days, the Prelimiary Application Judging Team reviewed 39 business plans and executive summaries of those companies vying for a semi-finalist position. Each company made a five minute pitch to the judging committee, followed by five minutes of Q&A with the judges. This judging committee was led by Mike Eckert, Executive Chairman, Atlanta Technology Angels, and also included Lawrence Guillroy, CEO of Racemi; Adrian Sawczuk, Senior Manager, Accenture; Jeff McConnell, CEO of Whisper Communications; Melanie Leeth, Vice President of Imlay Investments; Lance Weatherby, ATDC; and Richard Spencer, president of R.S. Spencer Company.

The 11 semi-finalists will compete April 19-21 with a new set of judges and with an updated and modified business plan and summary. Judges for the semi-finals stage will then pick three finalists to move on to the finals competition on May 24th.The semi-finalists judging panel includes Dave Eckoff, Evolutionary Partners; Sid Elliott, Georgia Research Alliance; Dave Gould, TechOperators; Mark Greef, Grant Thornton; Sami Jajeh, Arketi Group; Paul Judge; Vasant Kamath, Cox Communciations; Jamie Kennedy, Cox Enterprises; Sig Moseley, Imlay Investments; Michael Price, CEO Ventures; Martin Tilson, The Tilson Group LLC; and Judi Vitale, VitaleCFO.

The Business Launch Competition culminates on May 24, 2011, with a finals competition at the IBM Hillside Facility on Northside Parkway, from 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Attendance is open to the public for a nominal entry fee with lunch provided. For more information visit http://www.tagonline.org/businesslaunch.php.

About The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA)

The Georgia Research Alliance is a private, non-profit organization that brings together the state’s academic, industry and government leaders to grow Georgia’s economy through scientific discovery. Key programs are recruitment of top scientific talent (GRA Eminent Scholars), development of centers of research excellence, and commercialization of university R&D (GRA VentureLab). GRA has helped to generate more than 200 new technology companies from university research.

About The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

TAG is a leading technology industry association dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of the state's technology industry. TAG provides leadership in driving initiatives in the areas of policy, capital, education and giving, and also brings the technology community together through events, initiative programs and networking opportunities. TAG serves as an umbrella organization for 27 special interest groups, or societies, including Women in Technology (WIT). Additionally, TAG’s charitable arm, the TAG Education Collaborative, is focused on helping science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education initiatives thrive. For more information visit the TAG website at http://www.tagonline.org or TAG’s community website at http://www.TAGthink.com .

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